The Crawling Horror
by dutiesofcare
Summary: It's Halloween and the Doctor must save Clara's flat from a giant spider invasion.


**A/N: Just a spooky twelveclara oneshot to celebrate halloween :)**

 **Disclaimer: None of the chracters belong to me.**

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"Doctor, I need your help."

It was the desperate tone in Clara's voice that made the Doctor sure that his hearts had just stopped dead in his chest the moment he picked up the phone. "Clara?! Are you alright?"

"Can you come over? Please. It's an emergency," she begged, both voice and breathing pattern on edge. She made no effort to try and ease his worries down.

He felt his hands losing the grip around the mobile. "Okay. I'll be right there, but, Clara—"

The line went dead before he could say anything else.

The Doctor rushed to the console, pressing quickly to the keyboard all the coordinates to her place, as if both their lives depended on his velocity. Each second felt as an eternity until the TARDIS came to a complete stop.

"Clara?!"

He found her standing in the middle of the living room. Completely frozen, refusing to move a single muscle not even after his arrival. Her eyes were the biggest he had ever seen, filled with a mixture of fear and terror. He was careful at his approach, "Clara?"

At last acknowledging his presence, she sniffed, however didn't grant him the luxury of having himself in her vision field. She uttered softly and blankly, "There's a huge spider in my room."

He felt his knees growing weak underneath him, causing him to stumble back as he placed one of his hands atop his hearts. _Oh, he was ready to kill her_. "Clara! I thought you were dying! I thought you had fallen down the stairs and broken your neck! Do you have any idea the amount of bad case scenarios that can go through the head of a 2000 years old?! I'm not young anymore, Clara, soon enough you're going to give me a heart attack and there will be no one for you to call in case of another _spider invasion!_ "

Her ears hurt from the high pitch of his voice, causing her to tilt her head slightly. Yet, as if his words meant nothing, she repeated, "There's a huge spider in my room."

Scoffing, his hands fell to his hips in an authority manner. "Fine. Show me where this giant soul-eater spider is."

Finally, Clara's eyes landed on his alien form. "You know where the bedroom is. I'm not going back there."

" _Ever again_?" he mocked, receiving no change in her face traits in response. He sighed. "And who's going to save me from it?"

Angrily, she snapped, "I don't appreciate your sarcasm, Doctor. Will you help me or not?"

Throwing his arms in the airs, he agreed. "Fine. I'll be right back."

His steps were fierce and steady, with the only purpose of showing his _bravery_ off. He made his way to her bedroom, not once leaving her vision rage, and opened the door. Wide, searching with his eyes for the _spooky animal_ but never coming across it. He shouted, "Clara, there's nothing here."

Her answer only came several moments later, "Look up, Doctor."

He did. His head formed a ninety-degree angle with his neck as he allowed his glare to study the ceiling. One corner at a time. Empty. Empty. Empty. And then he slammed the door shut with a crash, unmercifully. Pulse three times faster through his Gallifreyan veins. He fell with his back against the wooden door, regretting it as soon as he heard a squeal coming from the inside. With his breath stuck in his throat, he managed to cry, "There's a giant spider in your room."

Without changing her features, Clara repeated his words as if she owned the truth, "There is a giant spider in my room."

Understanding the reason for the size of her eyes – because his were just as big – he accused, "Why didn't you say so before? You sent me in there to my death!"

"I did _not_ ," she emphasized, holding her index finger up in the air, "I _did_ tell you, you just refused to listen to me!"

He considered her statement for a brief second but soon after discarded it. "You could have given me a heads up, just for the sake of it."

"Shut up," she demanded with curves of a frown in her forehead. His annoying mood was, at least, easing her tenseness. "What's your tactical plan?"

"Run to the opposite side of the planet, hope there isn't a giant spiders invasion happening there as well," he shuddered, making his way back to her, away from the eminent danger.

"Doctor," the simple call of his name was enough for him to know she was scolding him, "We can't just leave it there."

He walked right past her towards the TARDIS. "We'll call your neighbors. If we ask them nicely, they'll get rid of it for us."

"No, they won't," Clara pulled him by the arm before he got the chance to enter his time machine, "Because they'll think this is a sick Halloween joke!"

The Doctor puffed, trying to free himself from her hold and failing. "What makes you so sure it's not? It's October 31st, after all. Maybe that's the result of your pupils pranking you."

She shook her head in disapproval, "My pupils aren't meticulous enough to pull such an elaborate prank. Besides, no Halloween joke looks at you with red glassy eyes and crawls towards you as if you're they're prey."

"That does sound something children would do," he whispered more to himself than to her. The look she gave him in return was, however, enough to silence him. "Well, what do you suggest we do, then?!"

"We get rid of it, Doctor," she stated the obvious, "Isn't that what we always do?!"

Sighing, he grunted, "Fine. You wait here," and turned on his heels to enter the spaceship, shutting its door on her face before she had the chance to either protest or follow him.

It was a matter of several minutes before he came back. The Doctor reappeared in her flat to find her sitting in her couch, eyes fixed blankly in a random spot at the wall until they _spotted him_. Her jaw fell open at the immediate sight of him. "What on earth are you wearing, Doctor?"

"It's Halloween! Don't you humans like to dress up for this dull event?" he snapped, opening his arms to gesticulate and almost dropping the bag he carried to the floor in the process.

Clara arched her brows in disbelief, "And what are you _exactly_ supposed to be?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" the look on her face told him it wasn't, causing him to squeal with pride, " _Spiderbuster_!"

She raised he right hand to her head in disapproval, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Isn't it the purpose of the holiday?" he prompted, clumsily letting all the artifacts he brought fall to the coffee table between them, "To _kid_ around?"

Her expression remained the same, "There's nothing _entertaining_ about haunting a giant spider, not even when you're looking like a cheeky version of Clyde Barrow."

The Doctor glared down at himself – socks that went high up his legs, brown shorts that ended right above his knees, a caramel tee and a leather jacket, along with a belt that could carry anything, including the sonic screwdriver he made sure to place there, a black stamped tie and a cowboy's hat. He swallowed hard, "The TARDIS told me I looked smug."

Clara did her best to hold back her chuckle, "I'm sorry to disappoint, Doctor, but _she_ was pulling a prank on you."

He threw his hands in the air in redemption. "Never mind that, we have more important issues to deal with right now. Here, grab this."

She caught a weird metal gun right before it landed on her face and potentially knocked her out. "What's this?"

The Doctor was busy fixing together his own weapon to provide her any instant reply. "It's how we're going to send it back to wherever its from."

Clara peered weirdly at the _metal_ _cane_ and then back at him, "Please, _do_ elaborate."

With a duck of his lips, he did. "We're going to create a portal. Each of us have to shoot at it within a forty-five degree angle and whilst my blaster analyzes its genetic code to know where and when it's from, yours will suck it to the gateway and _bang_ , problem solved."

She made a face, "Would you mind if we traded? I don't like the idea of a giant spider being sucked towards me."

" _Clara_."

"Fine," she groaned, "And you're sure it's going to work?"

He mentally studied the odds. "I surely _hope_ so."

"Doctor," she reprimanded.

Pulling her by the arm to get her standing, he assured her, "It will work. Trust me."

Hesitantly, Clara followed him towards her bedroom. He was careful to turn the knob around, silently motioning for her to close the door behind her, which she did with the slightest of cracks. Still, she enunciated, "I don't see it. Do you think it's gone?"

"Shh," he repressed her, "It's just waiting for the perfect chance to attack us."

As soon as he had jinxed it, the incredibly big spider crawled out from under the bed. Clara squinted the moment she saw it on its way to her, reenacting the best she could of a triple and mortal jump towards the bed, inevitably landing on her back against the soft mattress.

Having lost its first prey, the spider spun around, raising higher on its long brown claws until it reached the height of his waist. The Doctor gulped roughly, stepping back as it lethargically marched towards him, soon hitting the wall behind him. With the corner of his eyes, he glared at a now standing on her tiptoes on the bed Clara. "Are you ready?"

She barely had the chance to nod before a bright glow leaked from both their weapons, landing right on the furry body of the spider. Its attempts to fight them were enough to make her fall down on her arse, giving her no alternative other than using her feet as friction from the incessant pulling of the arthropod. High pitched squeals still escaped her departed lips. "Hurry up, Doctor…!"

"I'm almost there," he silently yelped, holding tightly onto the gun that was willing to escape the sweat of his hands, " _Almost_ _there_."

The spider then flew in her direction and disappeared into the thin air inches before it grazed its hideous pedipalps against each of Clara's temples.

The Doctor let out a scoff of relief. "See that, Clara? Problem solved."

"I'm going to have to disinfect this room," she mumbled beneath her breath, before turning her head to face him, "You sure it's gone? _Gone_ gone?"

"Well, did you aim at it at a forty-five degree angle?"

Her eyes widened, "I didn't know that was a big concern…!"

"Clara—" he was about to scold her, but changed his mind right after, "Ah, I'm sure it's just manufacture's precaution."

Clara jumped out of bed to track him into the living room. "Is it going to come back?"

"Why, are you afraid it'll turn you into a big fellow giant spider?" he teased her.

"As a matter of fact, yes!" she shouted from behind.

The Doctor whiffed, "Worry not, if it does come back, we'll be prepared."

"Doctor—"

All of sudden, he turned around and stared her up and down. "We need to get you out of those clothes."

Clara's temples immediately turned into lines of pouting. "What's wrong with my clothes?!"

"It's _Halloween_ , Clara, I'm not going to be the only one dressed up," he asserted, wrapping his big and thick fingers around the delicateness of her hand, "Come on, I'm sure we'll find you a suitable outfit somewhere in the TARDIS."

A smiled spread across her lips as he pulled her inside. "So what, I'll dress up as you?"

The Doctor didn't feel offended as he was sure she intended him to feel. "Don't be silly, Clara, you're too small. You'll never fit in my clothes."

She did her best to fight the urge to roll her eyes. "Well, what do you have in mind, then?"

He stopped dead in his track to reinitiate the eye contact. "Bonnie Parker, of course."

Clara couldn't hide her grin at his proposal, "We're Bonnie and Clyde."

"Yes," he nodded several times, " _Good_ Bonnie and Clyde, however."

She scoffed. "You do realize they end up dead, right."

He shot his shoulders up and down, returning their chase for the costumes room. "Not the _good_ ones, Clara."

Smirking to herself, she allowed him to drag her through the halls of the TARDIS in pure excitement. "Fair enough."

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 **A/N: Any feedback here or on twitter (dutiesofcare) is much appreciated :)**


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